Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Units, Related Unitholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Market Information, Holders and Distributions
Our common units are listed and traded on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “PAA.” As of February 22, 2022, there were 705,043,477 common units outstanding and approximately 95,000 record holders and beneficial owners (held in street name).
The following table presents cash distributions per common unit pertaining to the quarter presented, which were declared and paid in the following calendar quarter (see the “Cash Distribution Policy” section below for a discussion of our policy regarding distribution payments):
First Quarter Second Quarter Third Quarter Fourth Quarter
2021 $ 0.18 $ 0.18 $ 0.18 $ 0.18
2020 $ 0.18 $ 0.18 $ 0.18 $ 0.18
Our common units are also used as a form of compensation to our employees and PAGP GP directors. See Note 18 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding our equity-indexed compensation plans.
Performance Graph
The following graph compares the total unitholder return performance of our common units with the performance of: (i) the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index (“S&P 500”), (ii) the Alerian MLP Index (“AMZX”) and (iii) the Alerian Midstream Energy Index (“AMNA”). The AMZX is a composite of the most prominent energy master limited partnerships that provides investors with a comprehensive benchmark for this asset class. The AMNA is a broad-based composite of North American energy infrastructure companies that provides investors with a comprehensive benchmark for this asset class. We have elected to include the AMNA in addition to the AMZX in this year’s performance graph because we believe that a comparison of our performance to each of these industry indices is useful to investors. The graph assumes that $100 was invested in our common units and each comparison index beginning on December 31, 2016 and that all distributions were reinvested on a quarterly basis.
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12/31/2016 12/31/2017 12/31/2018 12/31/2019 12/31/2020 12/31/2021
PAA $ 100.00 $ 68.66 $ 70.27 $ 68.67 $ 33.77 $ 41.26
S&P 500 $ 100.00 $ 121.83 $ 116.49 $ 153.17 $ 181.35 $ 233.41
AMZX $ 100.00 $ 93.48 $ 81.87 $ 87.24 $ 62.21 $ 87.20
AMNA $ 100.00 $ 97.59 $ 84.62 $ 104.97 $ 80.45 $ 111.35
This information shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the Commission or subject to Regulation 14A or 14C under the Exchange Act, other than as provided in Item 201(e) of Regulation S-K, or to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that we specifically request that such information be treated as soliciting material or specifically incorporate it by reference into a filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
The following table summarizes our equity repurchase activity during the fourth quarter of 2021:
Total Number of Common Units Purchased Average Price Paid per Common Unit (1)
Total Number of Common Units Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Program (2)
Approximate Dollar Value of Common Units that may yet be purchased under the Program ( 2)
November 1, 2021 - November 30, 2021 3,384,873 $ 10.64 3,384,873 $ 296,769,608
December 1, 2021 - December 31, 2021 2,759,407 $ 9.06 2,759,407 $ 271,824,798
(1) Average price paid per common unit includes costs associated with the repurchases.
(2) In November 2020, the board of directors of PAA GP Holdings LLC (“PAGP GP”) approved a $500 million common equity repurchase program (the “Program”), which authorizes the repurchase from time to time of up to $500 million of our common units and/or PAGP Class A shares via open market purchases or negotiated transactions conducted in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements. No time limit has been set for completion of the Program, and the Program may be suspended or discontinued at any time. The Program does not obligate us or PAGP to acquire a particular number of common units or PAGP Class A shares. Any common units or Class A shares that are repurchased will be canceled. No PAGP Class A shares were repurchased during the periods presented. The common units repurchased under the Program during the periods presented were cancelled immediately upon acquisition.
Cash Distribution Policy
In accordance with our partnership agreement, after making distributions to holders of our outstanding preferred units, we distribute the remainder of our available cash to our common unitholders of record within 45 days following the end of each quarter. Available cash is generally defined as, for any quarter ending prior to liquidation, all of our cash and cash equivalents on hand at the end of each quarter less reserves established in the reasonable discretion of our general partner for future requirements to:
• provide for the proper conduct of our business and the business of our operating partnerships (including reserves for future capital expenditures and for our anticipated future credit needs);
• comply with applicable law or any loan agreement, security agreement, mortgage, debt instrument or other agreement or obligation; or
• provide funds for distributions to our Series A and Series B preferred unitholders or distributions to our common unitholders for any one or more of the next four calendar quarters.
Our available cash also includes cash on hand resulting from borrowings made after the end of the quarter.
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Under the terms of the agreements governing our debt, we are prohibited from declaring or paying any distribution to unitholders if a default or event of default (as defined in such agreements) exists. No such default has occurred. See Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Credit Agreements, Commercial Paper Program and Indentures.”
Under the terms of our partnership agreement, our Series A preferred units and our Series B preferred units rank senior to all classes or series of equity securities in us with respect to distribution rights.
Item 6. Reserved